Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Lifeless - Godconstruct

LIFELESS - Godconstruct (F.D.A. Rekotz LP 2013)

Every month brings us new band, which dismember
the corpses with old styled death metal band and in the recent months the name
Lifeless has been popping up more frequently, as this German band has just
released their album titled “Godconstruct” through the relentless F.D.A. Rekotz
(for sure one of the best labels around these days). But it would be a lie if
someone called Lifeless “yet another band, which decided to take their piece of
the trend cake”. Why? Well, Lifeless has been formed nine years ago and their
first full length album titled “Beyond the Threshold of Death” was released
already in 2008, at the time when this trend wasn’t so spread. This first album
of Lifeless may not have been the most thrilling piece of death metal, which I
have heard, to be honest, it was nothing special. But one day I’ve purchased a
split 7”EP Lifeless / Chapel of Disease and from this moment I knew I will have
to get the upcoming full length albums from both bands. They did present two
killer tunes on that split, but it was the song titled “Godconstruct”, which I
liked especially. It sounded like a classic masterpiece of the Swedish death
metal and if you have in mind my eternal worship for “Like an Ever Flowing
Stream” and other Dismember LPs, as well as for such bands as Goddefied, God
Macabre, Mastication, Epitaph and Carnage, then you may realise how much
excited I was for Lifeless upcoming LP. And finally here it is! I actually am a
bit late, as “Godconstruct” has been released already three months ago, but I
was going to get the LP version of this album, so this is why it took me so
long to get it. Which I finally did obviously and now I can listen to it with
all the pleasure!

But I guess I should start with one thing… I’ve
read a couple of reviews, which “Godconstruct” got and they were very positive,
but I must say that it starts to piss me off, when people describe new bands
with words like “oh, this is new incarnation of Dismember… forget about
Dismember, they’re dead, now you have Lifeless, bla bla bla”. For fuck sake, I
will never forget about Dismember, they’re the masters and the best Swedish
death metal band ever – and even if such saying would flatter Lifeless, then
one thing must be said here: all in all Lifeless are only followers or almost
the imitators of what Dismember and some other bands have done 20 years ago. And
I really prefer to consider Lifeless to be just a killer, relatively new death
metal band, not a damn reincarnation of whoever... Dismember will always be
one. There can be only one.

Saying so, I won’t deny that the Swedish scene
and this one particular band had an enormous influence on the music of
Lifeless. There are many moments on “Godconstruct”, when you can scream that it
sounds like a theme from the “Like an Ever Flowing Stream” or “Massive Killing
Capacity” LP or something else, luckily Lifeless managed to get one thing
right: they just composed some killer songs. Sure, among all those melodies or riffs
you can find similarities to the old scene, but those Germans have really
captured the essence of this music style and all the songs, which they have
composed for “Godconstruct” are just deliciously lethal and infectious. I
really, really like how catchy they are, how much energy they blast forward,
punching the listener mercilessly and then giving him a moment to breath, when
they start playing a nice, melodic theme, which obviously will stay in your
head for the whole fuckin day. So, taking influences from the certain style and
bands is one thing, but doing it correctly and managing to compose a decent
material is another. Lifeless really did prove to be one of the best bands from
this new wave of old school death metal and I can assure you that if you dig
the albums from Entrails, Tormented, Graveyard, etc then I am sure that
“Godconstruct” will also be a mandatory purchase for you.

When I listen to side A of the LP I feel just
totally tormented. When the last sound of the finishing song from this side
finishes I am almost hmm… lifeless, so much energy and passionate playing this
album threw on me. Starting with the title song, which I already know from the
split EP with Chapel of Disease and which for sure sounds like a classic masterpiece
of Dismember, especially when that killer melody at the end resounds (this is
Lifeless’ “Dreaming in Red” hehe!) through such awesome anthems like “Blood for
the Gods” (fantastic opening theme), “Towards Damnation” (fast motherfucker!)
and “Moribund”… This band has no mercy and compiled absolutely great riffs all
the time through these songs. My only complaint would probably be the too
obvious loan of the melodic theme in “Moribund”, which… well, I cannot put a
name of the band and the album here, but I am absolutely sure that I already
know it. I think it may have been originally used in an intro or something, but
damn it… I cannot remember where. Anyway, it certainly sounds great and I like
how Lifeless has arranged this theme, adding some keyboards to it. For sure
this melody belongs to the most memorable moments of “Godconstruct”, so this
complaint is nothing really major.

But when speaking about the songs from side B I
feel like they not quite as good as those from side A, you won’t find there
such an instant classic and memorable tune like the title song or “Moribund”,
which is a shame. There are not so many melodic parts there or the epic, catchy
moments… But the songs are very good anyway and I think that I can mention
especially “Sworn to Death” – nice, aggressive tune, which features Sven Gross
from Fleshcrawl on additional guest vocals. Then “Blindead” and “Seething With
Rage” are also good, especially “Blindead” kills with that opening riff. It
also offers some nice melodies and in my opinion this song sounds a bit
different to “Godconstruct” for instance.

Production wise I have nothing more to desire…
“Godconstruct” has a clean, crisp sound, the guitars tone is perfect and
obviously very Swedish, and the whole album sound is very energetic and
powerful, what I always require from killer death metal albums. For sure
“Godconstruct” has been perfected, speaking of the production, to the best
results. Artwork… Well, the front cover fits the lyrics very well. The album is
very antireligious, it speaks about how the religions dominate this world and
how they enslave the people, make them blind to see the truth… Figures of
saints and the priests have demonic faces, so that all creates a nice concept.
And the front artwork, done by Marc Niederhagemann (the vocalist and guitarist
of Lifeless), looks great, especially in the big format of the vinyl. Sadly the
LP doesn’t contain the poster with this artwork, but well, you cannot have
everything. All in all, I must say that “Godconstruct” turned out to be an
awesome album and for sure it met my expectations fully. I am very pleased with
this LP and honour the band for delivering such an awesome piece of traditional
death metal. And no, they’re not a reincarnation of Dismember, but new
(lifeless) being, which is here to decapitate you and rip your guts out, with
no mercy. Beware.

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